WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Friday said it had canceled $244 million in undisbursed funds for the Bisri Dam project in Lebanon after repeatedly raising concerns about the project since January.
In a statement, the World Bank said it had notified the Lebanese government about its decision, which takes effect immediately. It said it has also repeatedly underscored the need for “an open, transparent and inclusive consultative process.”
The World Bank began raising concerns in January about Lebanon’s plans to build the large dam in the Bisri Valley, and put funding for the program under partial suspension on June 26.
Initially approved by Lebanon’s government in 2015 at a total cost of $617 million, the dam had long sparked criticism from environmental activists. Concerns about large infrastructure projects have spiked since the massive port explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4 that killed more than 190 people.
The World Bank committed $474 million to fund the project, of which $244 million have not yet been disbursed.
The Bank initially set July 22 as the deadline for authorities to meet all requirements to proceed with the project, but later agreed to extend the deadline until Sept. 4, given constraints imposed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Bank said the Lebanese government had failed to address questions about an ecological compensation plan and arrangements for operations and management of the dam. The contractor also had not been mobilized at the site, it said.
Certain expenditures related to fiduciary and environmental and social safeguards would remain exempt, it said.
The Bank said it remained ready to work with Lebanese authorities to see how existing loans, including undisbursed amounts from the canceled Bisri project, could be used most effectively to respond to the emerging needs of the Lebanese people following the port explosion.
World Bank cancels loan for Lebanon’s Bisri dam, effective immediately
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World Bank cancels loan for Lebanon’s Bisri dam, effective immediately
- World Bank says the Lebanese government had failed to address questions about an ecological compensation plan, among others
- Initially approved in 2015 at a total cost of $617 million, the dam had long sparked criticism from environmental activists
Syria’s Sharaa grants Kurdish Syrians citizenship, language rights for first time, SANA says
- The decree for the first time grants Kurdish Syrians rights, including recognition of Kurdish identity as part of Syria’s national fabric
- It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it
DAMASCUS: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the rights of the Kurdish Syrians, formally recognizing their language and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
Sharaa’s decree came after fierce clashes that broke out last week in the northern city of Aleppo, leaving at least 23 people dead, according to Syria’s health ministry, and forced more than 150,000 to flee the two Kurdish-run pockets of the city.
The clashes ended after Kurdish fighters withdrew.
The violence in Aleppo has deepened one of the main faultlines in Syria, where Al-Sharaa’s promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.
The decree for the first time grants Kurdish Syrians rights, including recognition of Kurdish identity as part of Syria’s national fabric. It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it.
It also abolishes measures dating to a 1962 census in Hasaka province that stripped many Kurds of Syrian nationality, granting citizenship to all affected residents, including those previously registered as stateless.
The decree declares Nowruz, the spring and new year festival, a paid national holiday. It bans ethnic or linguistic discrimination, requires state institutions to adopt inclusive national messaging and sets penalties for incitement to ethnic strife.
The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), that controls the country’s northeast, have engaged in months of talks last year to integrate Kurdish-run military and civilian bodies into Syrian state institutions by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
